Some epitaphs of men from Akhmim have been translated in AET 6.46. The epitaphs of women from Akhmim tend to be briefer and contain less personal information; the one translated here is unusual in that respect.
Various different spellings of the name Hortaisnekht can be found in modern books. It was the name of several women in Akhmim in the first half of the Ptolemaic period - see in particular the coffin and mummy now kept in Budapest ( MFA 51.2097.1-2 ). However the name of her mother Nays is very unusual.
The translation has been adapted from Inji Adham, "The Stela of Ḥr-tȝy= s-nḫt from Akhmim CG 22069" ( academia.edu ); some passages in the translation remain uncertain. There is a summary in M. Panov, "Women in the Inscriptions of the Late Period.", p. 67 ( academia.edu ).
A boon that the king gives to Osiris Khenti-Amenti the great god lord of Abydos, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris in the midst of Akhmim, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris in the midst of the hidden burial, Re-Herakhte, lord of the Two Lands of Heliopolis, Horus the avenger of his father, Isis the great mother of the god in the midst of Akhmim, all the goddesses and the gods in the world who are in Akhmim, that they may give offerings of bulls, birds, unguents, clothes, pure incense, wine, milk, offerings of birds and bread, all good, pure and sweet things that are given to her as a good offering in the sky by Rê, strong in earth near Geb.
May she be remembered forever; may she not perish, eternally; may she freely enter and leave the necropolis; may she not be obstructed at the doors of the city; may they give the northern sweet air, the air that comes from Atum, to the ka of Osiris the musician of Min Hortaisnekht, justified, daughter of the overseer of the singers of Min Hor, justified, born to the lady of the house Nays, justified.
She says: O Rê in the Two Lands, through your brightness the darkness is lit for me. When you rise, you light the Two Lands as you enter your barque, row in the sky in the day barque and sail in the night barque. I become bright through the rays from your divine body, my body is renewed from the sight of your beauty every time you rise 10 . . . you give me offerings of bread of Khenti-Amenti. Your offering is pure, coming from Atum. You come as an excellent ba that goes out and enters, praised in the necropolis as a follower of Osiris, receiving the nutrition of Osiris Wennefer.
Atum says: Give to me your rays, which are upon the image of the god in the necropolis, so that the bas come out to praise you. I am as a servant that follows you when you rise as Aten to settle in the tomb, coming to Osiris; behold you are a ba in the necropolis.
Osiris Hortaisnekht says: O all wab-priests, masters of secrets, who know everything, who come to the beautiful west . . . of Shenu {Akhmim}, when you enter to this place, and you see this stela . . . its inscriptions, may you adore me and remember my beautiful name beside the great god in his feast. As you release me in nšy, these people will come to you, because I was a beautiful lady, good-tempered, serving Min in every festival. I [was] mistress of the lector priests of Horus the Falcon with variegated plumage, the great god justified, who approaches the west with his followers . . . his majesty. I go out with my servants to follow him.
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